The Scottish Chamber Orchestra gives the world premiere performances of Stuart MacRae’s Three Pictures in Glasgow (Academy Concert Hall, RSAMD, Friday 6th May, 7.30pm) and Edinburgh (Queen’s Hall, Saturday 7th May, 7.30pm). The great composer/conductor Oliver Knussen conducts MacRae’s new work in a programme that also features the Scottish premiere of his own Violin Concerto with Leila Josefowicz as soloist making her debut with the SCO. The two premiere performances are framed by Respighi’s Botticelli Triptyph and Stravinsky’s Scènes de Ballet.
Stuart MacRae was born in Inverness in 1976. After reading Music at Durham University with Philip Cashian, Sohrab Uduman and Michael Zev Gordon, he went on to study composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Simon Bainbridge and Robert Saxton. MacRae first came to public attention as a finalist in the 1996 Lloyd’s Bank Young Composer’s Workshop, when his orchestral piece Boeraig was given its first professional performance by the BBC Philharmonic. Between 1999 and 2003, MacRae was Composer-in-Association with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
Oliver Knussen’s music occupies a respected and regularly revisited place in concert and opera programmes worldwide. And as an acclaimed and much-invited conductor, the force of his presence and influence on contemporary music has been felt in many parts of the world. Knussen’s achievements are reflected in his former posts as Co-Artistic Director of the Aldeburgh Festival, Principle Guest Conductor of the Residentie Orchestra and Head of Contemporary Music Activities at Tanglewood. Since 1981 he has been responsible for more than 200 world and local premieres. He has also made a number of award-winning recordings, most frequently with the London Sinfonietta of which – following a highly successful period as Music Director – he is now the Conductor Laureate.
Still in her mid twenties, violinist Leila Josefowicz has won the hearts of audiences around the world with her honest, fresh approach to the repertoire and her dynamic virtuosity. Leila Josefowicz made her Carnegie Hall debut at the age of 16 and immediately followed this with her debut recording of the Tchaikovsky and the Sibelius concertos for Philips Classics. Since that time she has appeared with many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras.
